I thought there was some sort of standard for when the teams wear their whites, or the mostly white jerseys, that is: whites for visitors. But I have seen several recent games, mostly Eastern Conf games- I think- in which the home team wears white and the visitor wears the darker colored jerseys. This confuses me, especially when the audience cheers for the "wrong" team.

????

Attack life, it’s going to kill you anyway. — Steven CoallierThe Onion Horoscopes: October 11, 2011, Libra: "It turns out there are actually plenty of problems you can't solve with a smile, a sincere heartfelt talk, or a large, heavy piece of lumber."
October 18, 2011, Libra: "For the third year in a row, no one responds to your well-meaning letters concerning what you consider to be fairly large errors in just about everything."Inside Hockey

Is there a reason why a lot of people prefer the white jersey's at home? Is it just out of tradition? Do people think that it looks cleaner? I think wearing the non-white jersey's at home makes sense because the base color is an actual team color. I don't really have a huge preference either way though.

Is there a reason why a lot of people prefer the white jersey's at home? Is it just out of tradition? Do people think that it looks cleaner? I think wearing the non-white jersey's at home makes sense because the base color is an actual team color. I don't really have a huge preference either way though.

3 reasons.

1. It's the way it's been done for decades. Bettman changed a half century of tradition for no apparent reason.

2. When a team wears their dark jerseys at home, fans always see the exact same color pattern. For instance, Sharks fans always see the Sharks in teal, and the opponent in white. There is no variety. Every game looks the same.

The Black Armor thirds are one of only 3-4 in the league that I actually like, Piitsburgh has the best with the powder blue, and I know it isn't a third, but Vancouver's 40th Anniversary jersey is amazing, although they cheated by breaking the rule and taking the name off the back, which looks great IMO

1. It's the way it's been done for decades. Bettman changed a half century of tradition for no apparent reason.
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As usual, Sam's answer makes no sense.

What (charitably) he MEANT to say is: light jerseys were always worn by the home team until 2003-4 when Bettman changed it.

Sam should know better, as for YEARS he worked as a volunteer laundryman for the Sharks.

He was released unceremoniously, however, when a large number of Rathje jocks went missing.....

Actually what he meant to say was "Bettman changed a" third "of a century of tradition..." though why he feels Bettman is such a dark force in his life he needs to be attacked - who knows. Evidently, until 1970 home team wore dark. Sam wasn't doing the Sharks laundry back then but I understand he was a boot-shine boy for the Seals. Guess that explains his attachment to white.

Anyway, fashions change. They changed in 1970 from home dark to home white for exactly the reason Sam and people cite - pattern was same old same old, game after game and people were tired of it. The pendulum eventually swung the other way. Someday it will be back. It's been the same in the NFL.

Actually, the question I would have is why most North American leagues, including the NHL, require one team to wear dark and one team to wear white at all. It's an outdated notion that has no place in modern society.

WAY back in the day, there was no dark/white dichotomy. Teams wore their colors. The Red Wings wore red, and the Maple Leafs wore blue (or green, if you wanna go back really far). When you see the old jersey histories you rarely see more than one jersey per team.

It was newsreels and television that sparked the need for two jerseys. Specifically, black and white TV. On a black and white broadcast, it was impossible to distinguish between a blue jersey and a red jersey, so the dark/white system was developed.

For some reason, this practice was kept even after the advent of color television, when it was clearly no longer needed.

What the NHL needs to do is abolish the requirement for the dark/white system unless the two teams are too similar (think Red Wings/Hurricanes), then the home team would wear whites, thereby keeping the road team from carrying two unis.

The added color would make the game tons better. The Knicks have started a Xmas day tradition of wearing green against a red opponent and the color clash is outstanding. Imagine the Flyers' Orange going up against the Kings' Purple. Or Red Wings red against Sharks teal.

Very cool...

The following is a comprehensive list of all the arenas in the world that think leaning is a problem and have instituted rules against it.

TV viewer logic today would dictate that the teams stick to one system (color at home or whites at home) since it is hard to tell where teams are playing at a glance, if you can't rely on the uniforms. You can wait to see center ice, or for the audience to let you know, but that can take a while. Since everything in today's media is aimed at what we see in a glance, I would be surprised if what ticket buyers see is the main concern. Then again, the lack of consistency indicates it is not really being competently managed.

Attack life, it’s going to kill you anyway. — Steven CoallierThe Onion Horoscopes: October 11, 2011, Libra: "It turns out there are actually plenty of problems you can't solve with a smile, a sincere heartfelt talk, or a large, heavy piece of lumber."
October 18, 2011, Libra: "For the third year in a row, no one responds to your well-meaning letters concerning what you consider to be fairly large errors in just about everything."Inside Hockey

2. When a team wears their dark jerseys at home, fans always see the exact same color pattern. For instance, Sharks fans always see the Sharks in teal, and the opponent in white. There is no variety. Every game looks the same.

Wouldn't players prefer a light vs. dark system though? Isn't it easier to tell where players are in your peripheral vision?

Attack life, it’s going to kill you anyway. — Steven CoallierThe Onion Horoscopes: October 11, 2011, Libra: "It turns out there are actually plenty of problems you can't solve with a smile, a sincere heartfelt talk, or a large, heavy piece of lumber."
October 18, 2011, Libra: "For the third year in a row, no one responds to your well-meaning letters concerning what you consider to be fairly large errors in just about everything."Inside Hockey

The advantage of wearing white at home is there is a much greater difference in appearance of the visiting team from one game to the next. When you wear the colored jersey at home, the visiting team is always in white. When you wear your white jersey at home, you see the visitor in different colors each game.